Weston misses gold by 0.01 seconds

Weston misses gold by 0.01 seconds

Matt Weston missed World Cup skeleton gold by the smallest margin possible as he won silver in Beijing on Saturday afternoon.

Weston finished one hundredth of a second shy of race winner Christopher Grotheer, with the German taking top spot for the third time in as many races this season.

Weston led by 11 hundredths after the first run in China but Gotheer clawed that margin back to win in a time of 2 minutes 1.93 seconds.

Today’s silver followed back-to-back bronze medals in last week’s opening two races in PyeongChang for Weston, who finished 15th in Beijing at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

It means British Skeleton have now won eight medals in six World Cup races this season, with the team taking at least one medal in every men's and women's competition. 

Fellow Brit Marcus Wyatt was just outside the medals, finishing 0.1 seconds behind China’s bronze medal winner Zheng Yin in fourth.

Wyatt won silver in Race 1 and 2 in South Korea and he was agonisingly close to matching Weston with three medals in three races.

Wyatt goes into next week’s break from racing sitting second in the overall rankings, with Weston third and Grotheer first.

Team mate Craig Thompson placed 20th in a time of 2.03.97. Thompson, who was on the wider podium in sixth in South Korea on Sunday, sat 10th at halfway but dropped back in Run 2 to finish in a time of 2.03.97.

Freya Tarbit won bronze for Great Britain in the women’s race earlier in the day as she backed up her stunning gold from Race 2. Having finished fourth in Race 1, 24-year-old Tarbit leads the world standings heading into the fourth race of the season in Altenberg on December 6th.

Tabby Stoecker was fourth in Beijing, one place higher than she finished at the second time of asking in PyeongChang six days ago.